Between Two Points
by asopo339
Summary: 28 year old Melissa has her whole life ahead of her, hopes and dreams, and is not burdened with any glorious purpose. Instead Melissa finds Thranduil the future elven king tossed into her life. Just how she is going to explain when her parents come home who this 'man' is? All she wants right now is for the elf to just go home and leave her be! Or at least get his own life to live!
1. Chapter 1 - Enter Thranduil

_Disclaimer_: Don't own LOTR or anything Middle-Earth related. Bah. The only thing I own is my original cast of characters. So don't sue me, I make no money off of this.

Some background information for this fic: Thranduil is if you probably know by now, the son of Oropher. However seeing as Oropher's parents are not listed, I am going to list Oropher as a grand-son of Elmo (brother of King Thingol of Doriath, at least making Oropher a Lord among the Sindar). They have left Doriath and end up located in Lindon when Thranduil ends up missing. This will show up later.

A/N: I'm not sure how often I will update this story, this is more for me to relax and regain some ideas while writing Blaze & Fade Out (and plotting out Game Over). This is a middle-earth character 'falls' into our world.

Just to get this out of the way: Melissa is a human psychic with empathy, some premonitions, and the ability to 'speak' to spirits and at times see the 'unseen' world (but not all the time). She cannot fight, she cannot sing, and while her home life is far from perfect, she has no tragic back story either. She works at Dunkin Donuts as a shift leader, still lives at home, while she attends college part time. Melissa can dance and she can write, but her ability to draw has gone away. She loves to run, hike, and bike, and her goal is to hike the entire Appalachian trail, graduate to become a nurse, and eventually join up with Peace Corp. Tolkien's work exists in her world too. So if you do not like these details about the character, there's the door. Leave. Romance takes a while to build up to.

As I said, this is my stress relief fic. I need something to write that I am not constantly researching and referring back to materials and characters and trying to think of how to portray said characters.

Between Two Points – Glitch Mob

We've got forever / Slipping through our hands / We've got more time / To Never Understand

Falling Footsteps / Weighing heavy on me

Behind darkness / Beneath Candles / Whispers waltz / Around our dreams

The shortest distance / between two points / is the line / from me to you

Feet turning black / is this the path we must walk? / No turning back / Wish I could just hear you talk

Can something like this be pulled / from under out feet? / Leaving our skin / and burning coals to meet

Tell me now

The shortest distance / between two points / is the line / from me to you

* * *

Chapter One

The car beeped as it was unlocked. Two figures walked out of the Dunkin Donuts building. There was a girl with warm golden blonde hair, the other a brunette. They wished each another a good night and they departed to their vehicles. The blonde slipped into her white Nissan Versa. The blonde was one Melissa Gibson. Melissa started up the car and then she plugged in her cellphone. She flipped through the music and decided on her comfort music. Melissa, who was not really a girl, but a woman now twenty-eight gave a great sigh.

"What a night..." Melissa said to herself. She opened her eyes, her eyes a light-blue mixed in with gray. Forever ago, when she could still count on her two oldest friends, when they were best friends, they had described her eyes as the dawn of a new day with the stars peaking out in the flecks of her gray. Another friend had called them a mirror, for if they were surrounded by green, her eyes would turn into a blue gray. All her friends agreed though that her eyes reflected her emotional state, but when they would be such colors, very blue, blue gray, more gray, or a blue-green slightly, they could not and had never decided. It was her eyes that had drawn comments, men saying "hot damn, your eyes are beautiful."

Of course for her, Melissa, it would make her flustered. She was average in height coming to only five foot five, her body was on the stocky and muscular side. Certainly Melissa had curves, her body leaning towards an hourglass shape, but she could always be easily mistaken for a boy. This was easily the case when her hair was cut short and she wore a loose t-shirt and boy jeans. However as the case would have it, her hair was no longer short. She had grown it out for several years now, originally she had wanted it to be long for when she got married, but her fiance and her had called it off.

"Sick of all that we have to be in this life..." the lyrics to Ladyhawke's Crazy World was familiar and comforting as Melissa threw her car in reverse and peeled off.

"Waiting here for a fool to begin his life..." Melissa sang horribly along, enjoying the fact it was only her in the car. Melissa was not the best singer, barely able to carry a tune. She had only taking singing lessons in Middle School and had refused to do so when she hit high school. Oh she used to sing, pretending she would be found and rescued from her 'poor life.' That was also the stage where she wanted to be a power ranger, that she would go off to the Digital World and gain a digimon partner, or maybe she could find herself in her pokemon world. It was her wildest dreams to be off on some adventure far from the real world and far from the depression she had carried through all her life.

Melissa was pretty much as normal as they could be, for the most part. Maybe it would be better to say that Melissa was an average person in our world, she was not a genius with music, nor did she have a genius level high IQ. The most outstanding quality of her was her eyes, her imagination, and creative abilities she refused to pursue. Melissa was a daydreamer, but it meant she always had her head up in the clouds. She was a dreamer who always had plans but did not know how to manage to get from Point A to Point B half the time. But we digress from this story...

The home Melissa arrived in was silent and dark. Only the barking of two little dogs was the sound of any company to the house. There was cars there, three cars to be exact besides hers. They belonged to her mother, her father, and her sister who were not at home. Her parents had left taking her sister to go on a vacation. Melissa entered her home and greeted her two small dogs, Thor and Tiny.

"Hey babies! Did you miss me?" Melissa greeted her two dogs, petting the Yorkshire terriers. They barked and ran around her seeking love and adoration from her two dogs. Melissa giggled at them and indulged them for a bit before quickly doling out food for them. Melissa tossed her empty food container from work in the sink carelessly and walked to her room and quickly changed into her bathing suit. She grabbed a beer from the fridge and popped the cap open before heading out into the porch.

It was another beautiful clear night, even if the air was cool. Melissa shivered and threw open the cover and walked over to the porch railing and placed her cellphone blasting music for her. She slipped in and took a gulp of the beer. Tiny and Thor ran around on the porch chasing after the moths. This brought a smile to Melissa's face while she turned her face towards the stars. Her love for stars, was more of her love for the universe as a whole, which she adored. The music switched to Disney tunes and Melissa sang along with it, her voice struggling to keep up with the notes and in time to the words. Eventually her voice fell silent and she sat there drinking her beer quietly.

Suddenly there was a bright light behind her and Melissa stood up suddenly gripping the edge of the jacuzzi. Her jaw dropped at the strange light, it was...so out of this world. She clenched her jaw in fear as the giant ball of light began to recede slowly.

"Take care of him," a disembodied voice said. Melissa clutched the edge of the jacuzzi as if it would give her comfort. The light fully receded and there was a man on her deck, unconscious. She felt torn then, wanting to check him to make sure he was okay, or to run and call the police. How was she going to explain to the police his strange appearance? He wore armor colored with red, his sword still clutched in his hand. That was really made Melisa worried, the sword in his hand.

"Who are you?" Melissa asked him. She carefully got out of the jacuzzi and circled around him. There was little to tell other than the fact that he had long blonde hair that Melissa could only feel jealous about. She was struggling to get her hair to the middle of her back. The man was also wearing armor and what looked like leather boots. Melissa pursed her lips and then moved closer, slowly. She inched ever closer to the man, ready to flee if he started to stir. He did not stir even when she finally reached his side. Melissa touched his right wrist carefully, feeling for a pulse. She found it strong, never missing a beat, this caused her to sigh with relief. She did a visible search afraid to continue to touch this man, but there was no injures upon him.

"Who are you?" Melissa asked again. She did not want to let him in the house, but did not want to leave him out here alone. Who knows what he would do when he woke up and found himself wherever he was supposed to be? It would not due for him to awake and find her dressed as she was, if this man was really from the Middle Ages, her state of undress would be surprising. There was also going to be a language barrier...

"Okay, faeries that are out there, this is a really unpleasant joke. Can you take him back, please?"

"No," the voice teased in her ear. Melissa startled fell backwards from her kneeling position and quickly shifted to her feet to turn around her again and again.

"Look, this is really uncool of you! Stop it! I am twenty-eight, I have my life to live! I am not at the beck and call of ye gods and spirits!" Melissa said out loud, but she only heard distant laughter. This was the other part about Melissa, the part that made her strange to the world at large, except for those who were involved in the pagan and witchcraft communities. Melissa was what people would call psychic, sensing things before they happen (but often used tarot cards and a pendulum to aid her abilities), feeling others emotions, but also being able to communicate with spirits. It was more like a voice echoing inside of her. Of course Melissa also spent half the time thinking she was crazy, but she had never been led wrong and her fourteen years had taught her this. This was also why her fiance had left her to begin with, she was far to strange for his normal atheistic self.

"Please tell me he will understand me at least?" There was no answer. Melissa dashed into the house and quickly changed into capris, a sports bra, and a loose t-shirt. Hopefully her sense of dress would not be offensive to her strange new visitor. The gods had to be laughing at her right now, tossing her this strange event into life. Sure she had always questioned if what she had experienced was really and always held doubt about it. Yet this event had taken the cake in her strange life besides the car accident where she had incredibly walked out alive. Melissa walked back onto the porch, staring at the man in thought. It was then the man stirred, his eyes opening agonizing slow. He groaned as if in pain. His eyes seem to be trying to take in his surroundings before they locked on her. Melissa couldn't help but note how they were a bright blue, like shining lights, and then suddenly they had darkened ever so slightly. Oh he was angry.

"Please at least let me know if you understand me before you get angry?" Melissa interjected. The man slowly sat up glaring at her. The words seemed to come to him slowly, suddenly they made sense to him.

"I understand you well and clear mortal woman. What have you done to me?" The man demanded. The words coming out of his mouth made sense to him, but sounded strange and foreign as if being forced through something. The language one he had never come across but suddenly understood.

"I want to know who did this to you. I was personally not expecting any guests and I was having a nice life before suddenly poof! There is this magic light and this voice with no body saying 'take care of him.' I mean, I know fey like to pull pranks on people and some gods do too, but cannot I not have a say? It is not like I have to be taken down a peg for pride! Lucifer encourages pride!" Melissa ranted, confusing the man. He stared at her with mistrust.

"Look, I could care less if you trust me or not, but please believe me when I say I have nothing to do with your predicament. I will do my best to help you adjust to this world, this time line, whatever it is okay? Just don't kill me! Man!" Melissa said sensing his extreme distrust between the feelings and his hardened expression.

"I am not a man!"

"Oh? You are not? Then tell me what are you? Fey? Angel? Demon? Vampire?" Melissa began and started to list of races he understood at times and did not understand what they were. Trolls he understood, demons to as they were fallen maiar, but what were fey? What were vampires?

"I am an elf," Melissa's strange visitor asserted.

"Oh, by golly gee. You are an elf. Are you a certain kind of elf?"

"I am a Sindar Lord, I am Thranduil, son of Oropher," the elf said with regal authority. He stared down at Melissa, expecting her to shrink under his gaze. The human female just tilted her head and smiled as if amused by some private joke.

"The gods are really playing a joke on me this time," the human female muttered, she sighed then and stood up to her full rather short height compared to Thranduil. Thranduil continued to stare at her with suspicion

"I am Melissa Gibson, um daughter of Bruce and Susan. I am not a lady, no noble blood runs in my family, other than the fact that my family has always been military personnel and people seeking adventures. However, just because I am some commoner does not mean you can treat me like an ant beneath your feet. I am going to be helping you, so treat me with respect. I will try to find out who dropped you here and when you can return, alright?" Melissa said. Oh she was going to have words with the spirits tomorrow when she did her devotions. She was going to ream out whoever set this little event up. She was by far from happy, loathing the fact that a character from her childhood book had winded up in her world. Magic had always been about controlling the currents of life in this world and not like a sudden appearance of an elf, an elf who would be all alone without other elves. At least Melissa had her community, even if she disagreed with the lot of them half the time and there was always some drama going about.

"I will...accept this help," Thranduil said, knowing he had no choice. He glanced around noticing the strange setting of the world and bubbling steaming water in the corner of this balcony. Two little dogs came running out of the house barking at him.

"Thor! Thor! You listen to me now! Do not bark at the elf!" Melissa ordered her dog. The dog glanced back at his mistress and continued to bark at the strange.

"Thor," Melissa growled, her voice dropping low. The dog sat then and stared up at his mistress, tilting his head to the side.

"You are to cute boy, you mop bucket you," Melissa said with a smile. Melissa crouched down low and the two little dogs ran to her, running around her, rubbing against and turning their bodies to be scratched. Melissa laughed at her two dogs and kissed them both on the head. Thranduil decided he could maybe trust this human female, considering the animals loved her. This was different from dark forces and their mounts was trained to endure them. Melissa stood up then and gave Thranduil a small smile.

"Well Thranduil, would you come into my humble home? I am sure you would like to get out of your bloody gear and maybe wash up?" Melissa asked.

"I would indeed like to wash up," Thranduil admitted.

"Please follow me and I will show you to the bathroom. Just please, do not break anything, no matter how strange it may seem?" Melissa said to him pleadingly.

"I promise," Thranduil said with ease, feeling more curious about where he was suddenly. He had noted the light fixture upon the wall that was not lit up with fire. He followed Melissa into the house passed a strange see-through blanket and found himself in a tiled floor room with a table, chairs, and another light fixture and other rather peculiar furniture. He continued to follow her through the house, noticing the mixture of tiled and wooden floors. There was no dirt floors in the home and it was well crafted despite the strange furniture. They entered into a darkened part of the house and Thranduil saw her hand go to the wall and suddenly there was light. He stared up at the ceiling, startled by the sudden light and noticed a similar strange light fixture that clung to the ceiling instead of the walls. They entered through a door way into a small room and once again light flooded into the small room.

"Alright, so this right here is called a sink. See, you flip up this, uh handle, like this, and it turns it on. To the right you get cold water and to the left you get hot water. The hot water takes a bit to come out as it has to warm up a little," Melissa explained. She also began to explain what each item was and insisted that since tomorrow was her day off, she would get him this toothbrush. Melissa moved over to a strange seat and pointed at it.

"This right here is called a toilet. To be utterly frank and crass here, you pee and shit in there. No where else in the house, and certainly not outside. See here? You lift up the seat and you can pee in there. You can sit down if you just lift this top. This part is the seat. Once you are done, wipe yourself with this toilet paper here and then flush the toilet. See this handle? You pull it down and it flushes what you did down into the septic system." Melissa explained about the strange seat to Thranduil. Thranduil was horrified by her boldness of words but also in awe of the world he was in. It was so far from his world, so different! Melissa walked behind him then and shut the door. She opened another door, but this one was glass and somewhat foggy.

"This here is called a shower," Melissa said and began to explain it to him. How to use it, what the items inside the shower was used for. She then closed the shower door as she called it, and then opened up the bathroom door. She opened a small closest and took out a towel and placed it on the sink.

"You understand what I just told you right? It is not to hard?" Melissa pursed her lips while waiting for Thranduil to answer. Thranduil glanced around, it was easy enough for him to learn. It was not to difficult, just a turning of nobs and lifting of handles.

"Yes I do," Thranduil ground out.

"I will be right back. I will get you a change of clothes, but I do not think they will fit all to well. I will buy you some clothes tomorrow once I measure you." Melissa walked out the door and Thranduil heard her mutter about using the money she had saved up for her trip upon Thranduil. Thranduil was left feeling ire at her bitterness. It was not like Thranduil asked to disappear from defending Lindon and be placed in a different world! Melissa came back into the room and quickly explained the clothes to him, saying they were sleeping clothing, pajama bottoms, a t-shirt, and what was male underwear. Thranduil wondered if it was her husband clothes or her father's clothes he was using and felt uncomfortable at the thought. Melissa left him alone telling him to come to her once he was done. Melissa closed the door. He heard her footsteps walk away down the hallway and then strange music. He sighed and took his clothes off, placing it in the bathtub instead of the floor with carefulness. He found a strange object with an image of him in a pocket. He pulled it out and stared at it for a moment before setting it aside.

Thranduil was surprised at the warmth of the hot water and took great delight thinking about the waterfalls he had seen in the past. These were cold and this was warm. He marveled at it. When he was done, he dried himself off, and slipped on the clothing Melissa had provided him. The shirt was rather large on his frame, but the pajama bottoms came up a bit short. Thranduil walked down the hallway to Melissa to ask her what he should do with his dirty clothes. He found her upon the couch with those two small dogs watching people on a screen. He sat down next to watching the screen flash with images.

"What is..._that_?"

"This is called a TV. We watch it for entertainment, but also it provides us with news around the world and locally," Melissa said distractedly.

"What should I do with my armor and clothes?" Thranduil asked after a moment of watch the TV show the image of a woman with smiling teeth, it was something about having 'white teeth.'

"Just leave it where you left it, I will deal with it tomorrow."

"This news around the world would you care to show it to me?"

"I probably should, but I am sure upon seeing you will either feel depressed, disappointed, or angry, or a combination of it all. My world is a crazy world," Melissa said, once again her smile was one indulgent of a private joke. Thranduil wondered if he would ever understand this strange human female who was different from the Men of Arda. She was certainly different from Beren, with her boldness of words and strange appearance. Melissa switched to a channel startling Thranduil and she explained to him what she did noticing his mystified expression.

So began Thranduil's introduction to the modern world of present day Earth.


	2. Chapter 2 - Modern Clothing

_Disclaimer_: Don't own LOTR or anything Middle-Earth related. Bah. The only thing I own is my original cast of characters. So don't sue me, I make no money off of this. Instead of creating new poetry I am just using some of my own personal poetry.

Thanks for all the reviews and messages 3 I hoping that I can portray Thranduil's character effectively, but without some of his harsher qualities that he later develops. Currently trying to figure out how to make Christmas more elvish for Blaze & Fade Out...ugh. Hopefully I can finish writing that chapter soon so I can stick with my one chapter a week promise. I've been writing it on and off all week.

It's a short chapter, I don't care. There will be more eventually as I have to cover Thranduil's assimilation into the world, why he was brought there, tragedy and romance, and in the end Thranduil leaving modern earth behind (and more tragedy)!

* * *

Chapter Two

'Day One of Arrival'

Thranduil watched the human female sleep. Her head rested upon the armchair of the couch, one dog curled over her feet, and the large dog was laying on top of her shoulder. Her mouth was slightly open and she was drooling. He couldn't help but study her youthful face that did not carry twenty-eight years. In fact, as she lay there asleep, she seemed a lot younger. There was no lines upon her face, except two little lines just right behind her brows, she must squint a lot and have poor eye sight Thranduil surmised.

Thranduil shook Melissa then and her foot shot out, and Thranduil deftly avoided it. She swung it again, her eyes still shut.

"Leave me alone," Melissa mumbled, her words slurred from sleepiness.

"I am hungry, you must feed me," Thranduil ordered miffed at Melissa swinging her foot at him. Blue eyes snapped open and she shot up suddenly stumbling from the couch and disrupting her two little dogs. Thranduil caught Melissa as she was about to fall.

"Sorry, I am not a morning person, and this is to early," Melissa said glancing at the slightly pink sky from the sun just rising up. She heaved a sigh and rubbed her eyes, getting out little eye boogers from her eyes. Thranduil frowned at her unattractive behaviors.

"I am hungry," he told her again.

"I know that, gimme a sec! I just woke up! Keep your pants on!" Melissa stalked into the kitchen then. She paused and marched back out to talk to Thranduil without yelling.

"Would you like scrambled eggs and toast?"

"What is scrambled eggs?"

"Uh, eggs cooked up and beaten as it is cooked? I am not sure how to describe it, but it's like that," Melissa said.

"I will try your scrambled eggs."

"Would you like jam and butter on your toast?"

"What is jam?"

"Jelly."

"Ah, I see, I will try some of the jelly."

Melissa heaved a sigh at this again and went back into the kitchen. Melissa was not a morning person at all, yes, she usually got up early three days of the week to go running in the morning, but Melissa hated mornings. She was a night owl through and through. Her family knew to avoid her and often referred to her as a zombie when she first woke up because the only subjects on her mind was the bathroom, food, and coffee.

This is what Melissa prepared to, grinding the coffee first and getting it brewed while she cooked up the eggs and the toast. She placed it on a plate and called Thranduil to come here, sit, and eat. Thranduil walked in looking irritated by her orders but he did as she said as she pulled out a chair and provided him with a fork. Melissa turned to her own meal, sauteing vegetables before cooking with her eggs.

"Eat," Melissa urged. "What do I have to do? Bite out of your food to make sure you know it is not poisoned?"

"I cannot die from...poison," Thranduil said. Melissa blinked at this, her thoughts a whirlwind.

"Really? That's odd...does it have something to do with the fact that elves can get sick, but cannot die?"

"Be that as it may, it can make us very sick, and we can still die from starvation."

"So to kill an elf, you get them so sick they cannot keep food down and then they will die of starvation? Huh? That's to long of a process and way to obvious," Melissa said with a grin. Melissa turned and got herself a cup of coffee then.

"You have such morbid thoughts in the morning," Thranduil said, his tone accusing. Melissa turned and gave him a dazzling even if strange smile.

"Why indeed, it happens that I am not a morning person and that someone woke me up before I was ready, please eat, I really did not poison it," Melissa urged before sitting down at the table and eating her. Thranduil was disgusted by the fact that Melissa shoveled her food in her mouth practically, within two minutes the food was gone.

"Could you not eat any faster?" Thranduil said with sarcasm in his voice.

"It is a habit from having very little time to eat and I am not sorry. You still have touched your food, eat, there are starving kids in Africa," Melissa ordered. Melissa gave Thranduil a hard stare, not willing to let it go. Thranduil sighed and ate the food without question. It was good, even if different and he did not expect this strange jelly flavor upon his toast either, an apple raspberry. Melissa sipped her coffee as Thranduil ate, lost in thought.

'I need to get him clothes! He can not stay in my ex-fiance's pajamas all the time and clearly they do not fit,' Melissa thought. Melissa rummaged through a draw looking for the measuring tape after that and with an 'aha' she took it out.

"Since you are done eating, stand up, please? I need to measure you so I can get you clothes that will fit," Melissa asked holding up the measuring tape. Thranduil did as she asked and Melissa measured his waist and his legs. Then she measured his torso for good measure.

"Do you have a favorite color? I am not going to force you out into the public dressed as this," Melissa said, eying the ill fitting clothes.

"I do not have a favorite color," Thranduil answered.

"Alright, look I will be back. I will put the TV on, here I will show you the controller to flip through the channels." Melissa guided Thranduil back into the family room and showed him the remote control. She turned on the tv for him.

"It is easy, just press these buttons for the channel, and this button for the volume. Do not press any of the other buttons, okay?"

"I shall not. How long will you be gone?"

"I will be gone for probably two hours." Melissa grabbed a bag from the table and a pair of keys.

"Oh, hm, well if you want to read books..." Melissa disappeared back in the house before returning with a decent pile of books in her arms. She placed it carefully down upon a smaller table.

"These are books about philosophy, science, and psychology. Plato can be a bit dense, Herman Hesse is wonderful, though the Glass Bead Game is fictional. The Elegant Universe is nice...well that is enough for now. You can explore these books if you want or get bored of the TV. Also please do not leave the house, if you do, go through this sliding door. You are welcome to wander about, but do not go to far. I may live further apart from my neighbors, but they are still neighbors." Melissa gave a small wave and disappeared down a hallway Thranduil had not gone through. There was the opening and then the slamming of a door and then another. There was some strange noise he heard and then it drifted further and further away. Thranduil glanced at the strange books and picked the top one up.

'The Teachings of Ajahn Chah, a collection of dhamma talks," was upon the cover. Thranduil looked at it curiously, who was Ajahn Chah, and what was dhamma talks? Thranduil opened the book and the very introduction was confusing to him. There was strange use of words like Sangha, and monastic order, and Dhamma practice. What were laypeople? It made his head ache in a odd way in frustration. This Melissa read books like this? Thailand must be a place far away...and 1917, how long ago was that? Melissa had not mentioned the year it was here. Thranduil rubbed his temples and sat the book down. Instead he picked up a leather bound book and opened it. Instead of what looked like a strange writing that was repetitive, script scrawled across the pages and there was no lines upon the paper.

"Letters From My Heart, Melissa Gibson."

"I've had a thousand dreams,

built upon my bones,

paper cranes, shooting stars,

dreams and hopes,

but never, ever,

wishes.

Wishes go wrong to often,

but hopes and dreams,

they unfold and grow

like flowers do,

just like my bones."

Thranduil flipped the page...

"This is the screaming of my heart,

emptying all the bottles of the

silent rage that I held inside

for far to long, for to much.

This is the sound as a hurricane

rages, mixed with the sorrowful tears

and the angry raging winds of

my words that will not stay silent,

just like my heart is tired of being silent.

I have a hurricane heart pouring fourth,

shaking your windows and foundations,

breaking upon your shores and washing

away – anything, everything, you from me."

Scrawled next to it... "Life is beautiful, its crazy with its circles – rotating about it; it just spins and spins, spirals going up and down, and just when you think had it all figured out – life throws a curve ball and a new circle begins."

On the next page was:

"With sweet words,

my love is set free like a bird.

A soft spoke phrase,

if only you could stay.

Forgive me."

Thranduil intrigued continue to flip through the book, there was poetry and sketches, there was small portraits of people that must be known to Melissa, for there was photos mixed in with her standing next to them smiling. There was scribbles and personal entries mixed in of various topics, reference to dhamma, to spirits mixed in with it all. Thranduil found himself drawn into a strange world where references to 'astral travel' and 'spirits' and various powerful beings gave her tasks to do. Often the topic was of questioning her sanity and struggling with her own personal faith. Entries referred to friends, lost friendships, and one more important fact, she had loved and lost.

Thranduil was so absorbed into knowing the inner workings and secrets of Melissa's mind he almost missed the slamming of a door. Startled Thranduil threw the book behind the couch as the second door slammed. Melissa walked in then carrying a bunch of bags which she dropped to the floor when she got to the living room.

"Okay, so make sure these fit, okay? I am not sure if you preferred a tighter or a looser fit, so I got a bit of both sizes. Tell me which ones you like and do not like and those you do not I shall return. This bag here has all your shirts and these have jeans and cargo pants, you can pick which you like. I can always get more," Melissa explained. "Go to the bathroom and try these on."

Thranduil took the bags and stared at the various shirts. There was a long-sleeve shirt that buttoned up and several shirts that looked like he pulled over this head, with sleeve lengths of various sorts. The pants were of different styles and lengths too. Thranduil took them to the bathroom as intrusted and tried them on. The shirts were soft and comfortable, even if they were strange. The pants were of some blue material he had never seen before and he disliked them greatly. The other type of pants were not much better and seemed even strange with their multitude of pockets.

"I dislike these leggings," Thranduil told Melissa coldly as he stepped out of the bathroom, indicating the blue material.

"Those are called jeans and they are worn commonly here. The other type are cargo pants, you do not get much of a choice. Suck it up, or find yourself in a jail cell somewhere for going around without pants," Melissa informed him, miffed.

'I am trying to be kind to him!'

"They are very uncomfortable," Thranduil said darkly.

"Well I am sorry your highness, your royal tush has to wear them! I got the softest material too..." Melissa grumbled and stalked away. Thranduil was left staring at Melissa's back and watched as she screamed once and kicked the wall in a rage, leaving a small dent with her shoe, not much of a dent, but a dent. Melissa cursed again, her behavior in every way, unlike elf-maids or the maidens of Men.

"I shall wear these...leggings," Thranduil grumbled after her in displeasure. There was no way Thranduil would go around naked and he had no desire to be in a cell. Melissa whirled around, her eyes a dark blue he had never seen before.

"Those are called jeans Thranduil. They are not leggings."

"Fine, I shall wear these jeans."

"Please tell me you separated what you did not fit into or disliked..." Melissa wondered out loud to him.

"I did, I put them all into the bag," Thranduil said. Thranduil stepped out of the way as Melissa barreled past him and looked at the pile of clothes.

"Are you going to wear the cargo pants?"

"I do not like them," Thranduil said haltingly. Melissa nodded at this and saw the wallet that was laying upon the floor. She picked it up curiously and opened it up. There was a wad of money, a debit card, a credit card, a social security and a birth certificate. There was also a driver's license. Melissa stared at her, her jaw slack. There was a picture of Thranduil with long hair but his name was listed as "Thomas Orlov."

"Well this is interesting," Melissa spoke out loud. Thranduil looked over at what she was holding up.

"I found that strange object in my pockets...how did they get such a small portrait of me upon that thing?"

"That is what I want to know...still this makes it easier. Thank the gods for that."

"How does that object make it easier?"

"It means I have all the information in the world to help you out and assimilate to this world until you go back to yours."

"You have not answered my question woman!"

"I am not 'woman!' My name is Melissa, use it! This helps out because now I do not have to worry about trying to find fake documents for you! I do not know how to get about getting legitimate fake documents to prove you are a citizen of my country! This also allows you to get job and apparently you have a bank account too! Which is important money wise...but this does lead to some very interesting questions..." Melissa said thoughtfully. Melissa shrugged then before continuing, "Oh well! We can save them for another day! Are you hungry? I am!"

Melissa meandered out of the bathroom then, leaving the bag of clothes. Thranduil was left to trail after Melissa. He was bewildered by her quick change of emotions. Was this female...was Melissa insane? He was scared of the answer and wondered why he was brought to this strange world. Who did deposit him into this world?


	3. Chapter 3 - Conversation

_Disclaimer_: Don't own LOTR or anything Middle-Earth related. Bah. The only thing I own is my original cast of characters. So don't sue me, I make no money off of this.

Another short chapter, sorry, not sorry.

In the next few chapters...there will be more scenes coming up about Thranduil's 'identity' in the world, as well as when Melissa takes Thranduil out for the first time! Also they go to the ocean :D But that is coming up anyways! I cannot show you the chapter with Thranduil being in the car for the first time!

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Chapter Three

'Day Two of Arrival'

"Fuck! Die! Motherfucker! Die! Fucking die already," Melissa cursed, her voice loud and abrasive against Thranduil's ears. Thranduil came inside pushing past the strange screen door. He watched her press furiously on a small device, her eyes trained on a screen. There was a conflict of noise going on, music from the screen, the radio going on, a small another device, cellphone she had called it, blasting music.

"We didn't start the fire," Melissa sang under her breath horribly out of tune.

"It was always – FUCK!" Melissa cursed as she watched her characters take a huge hit.

"YOU STUPID ASS BOSS YOU ARE GOING DIE!" Melissa cursed at it.

"No we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it," Melissa continued to sing.

"WILL YOU STOP THAT AWFUL SINGING?" Thranduil roared at Melissa annoyed at her awful singing. It grated on his ears, her out of tune singing, the horrible music she played. It was to much for him.

"I am not singing for you," Melissa muttered at him. Her eyes turned to the screen, "Do you wish to continue?"

"Damn it, I died," grumbled Melissa.

"You did not die! You are still alive," Thranduil asserted.

"I died in the game! I lost the game! Damn it! Shit, I lost the game," Melissa railed thinking of the game and then, _the game_. Thranduil looked confused. The screen changed and to a video of strange people fighting a skeleton creature before the screen changed again. Melissa glared at Thranduil.

"For a twenty-eight year old you act immature," Thranduil told her.

"Oh? What do you have to judge me by in this world? Hm? For all you know other twenty-eight year old act this way. Let me tell it to you right now, I am me, self-absorbed, artist, daydreamer, a student, and I may have 99 problems but as of right now, you sir ain't my concern," Melissa told him before turning back to her game. Thranduil sputtered at this.

"How dare you treat me this way!"

"Where are you going to go? You got dumped off in the middle of no-where. I have been more than helpful trying to integrate you into this world. I did not have to take you in, I could have called the police and had them take you in," Melissa pointed out.

"If anyone was in my position, I would have called the police and dumped your ass. However you are lucky that I for one am not normal and –" Melissa stopped and she sighed. "Enough of that. Do you need anything?"

"Other than to stop your horrifying voice from singing, no." Thranduil left then, not storming out, but from the tension he probably would have.

'I thought elves would be all so calm...' Melissa thought. Melissa knew of the stereotypes of elves, romantic ever lasting love at times, unless you counted the elves from Eragon, who would come together in love but did not lay a promise of forever. Yet Tolkien elves were very merry-making, or incredibly somber, and had been written rather romantically. Maybe that was the problem in itself, that the characters were written as if the tale was a romance and a tragedy, a myth with epic heroics. Melissa wondered briefly for a moment of how to approach Thranduil, as now, she was really curious. There was a thousand questions she wanted to know.

Did elves love only once? Did sex really mean marriage? What did it mean if an elf lay with a human, how would that work out? How many human-elf couples were there? Was the conflict with the dwarves really that bad? Could they really talk to trees? How could they communicate telepathically or was that a joke? How did they heal others? What was their 'magical' abilities if they had any? The questions whirled around in her mind before she decided to go outside to talk to Thranduil. Melissa left the controller on the couch, her two dogs following her outside onto the porch. Melissa saw Thranduil was sitting outside on the grass, a gentle wind messing with his golden hair.

"Hey, Thranduil, I have a question for you, well questions," Melissa said. Melissa stepped over the fence and came to sit down beside him. Thranduil's dark blue eyes studied Melissa but he saw no lie in them, just an open curiosity.

"What is it that you wish to know?" Thranduil said at last.

"Well we have stories about different races and cultures, like fey, the shining people who are neither good nor bad and are very tricky. We also have stories of animal spirits and angels, the angels being divine servants of Gods. So with elves, we have stories too. So I am wondering if you could confirm them for me, if you do not mind me asking. Please keep in mind I mean no offense, I just want to sate my curiosity," Melissa said with a small smile, eager to gain new knowledge.

"I do not need to know why, but ask."

"Do elves really love only once?"

"That is a rather silly notion."

"I guess it is just a rather romantic tale..."

"It is not that it is romantic. We are just like you Men. We fall in love and out of it during the course of a courtship, which often may last for several hundred years of our youth," Thranduil answered.

"Does this mean you are slow to realize your feelings of love towards another?"

"Tis not so simple as that, some realize it sooner, some may realize it later. Is this not so with Men?"

"Yes..."

"There is no rush for us, but some realize it far sooner, some never realize it either. Thus a courtship will last for many years before turning into a betrothal, some longer, some shorter, though we always marry for love," Thranduil said, his eyes dark and accusing.

"That may still be true, but most people these days marry for love. But love seems rather cheap these days, people aren't really to work with their partner, there are even cases where people marry one day and divorce the next..." Melissa trailed off and she turned her head away, her hands shaking the only visible signs of her being upset.

"You were married?" Thranduil asked her softly.

"No, I was to be married. I loved him and part of me always will. It may seem rather silly for me to say that I am over the relationship. I know I have not forgotten him, but do you forget someone that played a big portion into your life? I left my home for him, I put myself through hell to be in another country to be with him, and to deal with what his family put me through. Eventually though, I found my heart turning away from him, because I realized he did not bring out the best me. He began to bring out the worst in me. The more I realized that as much as I could by content with him, it was a false peace because if you cannot be accepted for who you are, loved for who you are, then the relationship is not true. That is where we went wrong, my fears and his inability to accept the person that I am...I guess in a way, I am bitter and I am more content to be alone. I would rather be a complete person, not beholden to anyone, than to stifle myself," Melissa said. Melissa turned to Thranduil and smiled, any sadness gone.

"But that is life, we meet others and then we lose them. Nobody can replace a friend or lover in your heart, because they existed, so you carry them forever in you, like a tiny permanent mark. They stay with you, even when you part ways, and even when you meet up. The heart does not have a limit, just like the spirit. I always been thinking it is silly to say 'this is the end, I cannot let anyone in my heart anymore because I have no pieces of my heart to give.' You still do. It's just a metaphorical saying. As much as I loved him, I also had to let him go. Our relationship ended, our marriage did not happen, but we were still left with a friendship, and the years we spent together, growing together, and growing apart. You can't replace that."

"You are rather wise," Thranduil said surprised.

"I may act childish, because how else can you survive in the world Thranduil? Even with elves, do you act all serious all the time? Do you not try to enjoy life, to throw back your head and laugh and enjoy the simple things life has to offer? I try to be free, to not let worries or fears over take me, but I do act serious when need to."

"King Thingol used to throw a great deal of parties to make everyone be merry," Thranduil offered.

"I knew you elves could not be so serious all the time," Melissa said teasingly. Thranduil offered her a small smile then.

"Man...I forgot what I wanted to ask you. Oh, could you teach me elvish?" Melissa asked.

"I speak Sindarin, not elvish."

"Oh, okay. So will you still teach me?"

"_Ai_! It is a form of greeting," Thranduil explained.

"_Ai_!" Melissa repeated with ease.

"To apologize one says, _goheno nin_," Thranduil said. Melissa stumbled over the words. They went over it again and again, before her lips managed to say the words.

"_Goheno nin_," Melissa said at last.

"There, you have it now. If you can tell me those words tomorrow I will teach you more," Thranduil said with a smirk.

"I shall endeavor to learn! Oh! That reminds me! I have to go to work tomorrow, I will be gone from eight am to four in the afternoon. I will make up food for you, do you remember how to use the microwave?" Melissa asked. Thranduil remembered the box like object that made food hot.

"You should show me again..." Thranduil admitted.

"No problem, I just would hate for you to go hungry. You are a guest after all," Melissa said.

"You have a strange way about applying guest rules."

"I am just moody, you got to suck it up."

"Suck it up?"

"It means you have to make do with how I am," Melissa explained the first thing that popped into her head.

"What do you do?"

"Um...let me think of a way to put it...I um, I serve drinks to people? Food to." Melissa said thinking of her job at Dunkin Donuts. It was true enough and it was the most relate-able terms she could think for Thranduil's ancient history mind. How could she explain it otherwise? They probably did not have coffee, nor ever had to serve five hundred people in a hour. Then again, there was probably mess halls, or dining halls in Middle-Earth, but did they really serve that many people?

"You are a bar maid?"

"Oh no! I do nothing like serving alcoholic drinks. Where I work serves different kind of drinks, but not alcohol. Maybe when you are more assimilated to the world, I will take you to my work and maybe I will take you out to a real bar. Though I warn you, be prepared for a culture shock," Melissa said with a small smile.

"You world is very different, I am aware of this," Thranduil said, his eyes narrowing out there.

"I am well aware of what you know of this world. I still want you to be aware that the world at large is very different and what you have seen on TV is only one tiny drop of rain in an ocean," Melissa said.

"I will take you word for it," Thranduil said dryly.

"Oh! I was reminded of a question I wanted to ask you. Can you really talk to trees? Do they speak back?" Melissa asked and Thranduil looked startled.

"Yes we do, though your trees here, I cannot hear them. I have tried all day but they do not speak," Thranduil said. He sighed at this, looking defeated.

"I am sorry," Melissa said.

"It is fine."

"So what do trees normally say?" Melissa continued to question Thranduil late into the afternoon about trees, what elves could speak to of animals, understand them, how telepathy worked, question after question poured forth, but the answers led Melissa to believe that elves were not so different from humans. They lived longer, yes, they were more sensitive and in touch with the world than humans too. Elves had immortal lives too, so their sense of time really changed as they grew older, just like a humans, years blending to each other as they grew older. They loved, had friendships, were jealous, they even lusted. They were not so perfect, but they also understood the impact of their actions upon each other and the world at large. It is why to most elves anyone under 1000 was incredibly young to them, which Thranduil fell under this category at this time, being over a bit of 500 years now.

It left Melissa with a dissatisfied feeling, should elves not be more inhuman? Different morally? A logic that she could not quite grasp? Or was this the human ability to grasp and understand the strangest of concepts? Melissa chewed her lip thoughtfully as they parted for her to cook lunch. She just was not sure what to make of it currently.


End file.
